How many Lures missing in action?

[Garry Wong]

as we all know, popping can be very expensive, especially when you keep losing lures after lures due to bust off,  line failure, casting to the rock, and etc etc you name it
just wondering how many lures you guys normally lost in a trip/day fishing or expedition
some said they just lost 1 in hole week trip due to the casting the popper to the rock, some said have multiple bust off in 1 day
how about yours?

[Scott Maybury]

Hey Garry, I find it varies quite a bit

I went 3 days in New Cal and only lost 1 lure to line breakage, but we didn't catch a lot of fish

In 6 days in Fiji I lost 5 lures, but would probably have only lost 2 if I had realised earlier there was a chip in one of my guides, causing the line to fray and break....the terrain there was pretty friendly, gently sloping solid reef

At Bugatti I went 4 days without losing any lures, then lost 3 in one day!

At Bligh Reef I think I only lost 2 poppers, but lost a heap of light tackle lures fishing the shallows

It really depends on how nasty the terrain you are fishing is, coupled with how many fish you are catching and how big they are.....lots of strikes from big fish in nasty territory could equal a lot of lost lures if you are unlucky!

I have actually been pretty surprised over time with how few lures I have lost...it

[Mark Harris]

Garry

I would report a similar to pattern to Scott - it varies an awful lot. 

The most I remember losing in one day is 4 (Lombok) but equally I have gone through 3 or 4 day trips without losing any. Terrain, the aggression of the fish and the way they are striking are all factors, and I am sure there are more.

[Jon Li]

In my case , usually after a few days of hard fishing , I become sloppy and lost more lures due to plain fatigue , not paying attention to the frayed line , not tying the knot as should be and other things silly . I wud say for a 5 days Komodo / Sumba trip I would lose in the average around 5 lures , some to big fish and others to the mentioned sloppiness .

Jon .

[Warwick Joyce]

I lost a few on earlier trips when I was a real newbie. I would really like to know if anyone has found a lost popper? Considering most of them float......

[Stan Konstantaras]

Hi Garry,
Our "best" day off La Foa in New Caledonia accounted for 11 lost poppers / stickbaits between 3 of us. Not to mention a handful that were rendered beyond use.
All high end poppers as well, fished  on 130 and 170lb. Big fish + very shallow water=

4 of these loses occurred from double hookups with both fish going in opposite directions knitting us in the coral bommies.

That day also cost us a Fisherman TRS. It was a $2500 loss all up, but a top day!!!!

We did also land a bunch of fish, including 3 double hook ups in the shallows.

Cheers
Stan

[Scott Maybury]

Hey Warwick, I have been on boats twice when someone has lost a lure to a fish, we have fished the area for a little while (like 20 minutes) and found the lure floating when about to leave the area

It was really pleasing to see actually that the fish can get rid of these lures pretty quickly at times

[Nathan Cefai]

Hi mate

Had a trip last week in New Cal,for the trip we lost 5 poppers between myself and my cousin all to bust offs and sharks...Havent ever seen a lost popper,im sure they all get eaten....Orions sink so once the leave you leader thats its say good bye,we lost a cono cono last week to a huge fish,nice quick clean bust off...

[Brandon Khoo]

Nathan, the only Orion lure that should be sinking are the Bigfoots. If your other lures such as the ConoCono are sinking, you better have a look at your hooks set-up. They're obviously too heavy for the poppers!!

[Angus Hulme]

Warwick, on our last Whitsunday trip one of our team lost the lure in the attached photo to a nasty black GT off the rocks.  4 months later, my aunt and uncle where on their 50 ft launch, anchored near the same island that we had fishing previously. As they walked along a nearby beach, they found this same lure (which was one I had made myself) above the high tide mark, and rang me and described the lure.....no doubt it was mine. I thought that was pretty freakish!

The lure, which had one barbless treble at the time, had obviously been rubbed off on the coral/oysters by the fish, judging by the scrapes and scuffed paint. Seeing as it occurred during the biggest tides, the lure had washed up above the normal tide line, and stayed there!

[Ben Earl]

my worst in recent times is 4 for the day. I was well and truly peeved by that time. They were mostly down to large red bass in shallow water (i couldn't resist  ) taking me behind a bommie with one bust off.
i have often wondered where our lures go after we lose them. I saw a doco a while back about an area in the pacific that is like a giant eddy and it is chokkers with plastic debris. My guess is that a few of them would end up in places like that